


Logical Conclusion

by RubyCaspar



Category: Scorpion (TV 2014)
Genre: F/M, Finale episode tag, Post Season 2, couldn't help but write this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-27
Updated: 2016-04-27
Packaged: 2018-06-04 22:37:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,553
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6678139
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RubyCaspar/pseuds/RubyCaspar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set straight after the season two finale. Paige and Tim are travelling down to Lake Tahoe, but Paige is having second thoughts.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Logical Conclusion

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first foray into the Scorpion fandom - but I had to write a Waige tag to that finale! I'm sure this will be just one of dozens of variations that will emerge before we get to season three... anyway, I hope you like it. 
> 
> I've played around with the timing of the day a bit. It takes over seven hours to drive from LA to Lake Tahoe, so Paige and Tim must have set off in the afternoon, right? Well, let's just assume that Toby started drinking early and pretend that it was still light when we saw that Lake Tahoe sign at the end of the episode... It's the only way this makes sense. :P

Paige knew that Tim could tell there was something wrong with her. She tried not to let it show as they left the garage and started the drive to Lake Tahoe. They stopped off for food at a diner about an hour out of the city, and she smiled back whenever he smiled at her, talked excitedly about the artists who were going to be at the festival, laughed when Tim told a joke. She wanted to say she was just shaken after what had happened between Happy and Toby, or that she was nervous about leaving Ralph for the weekend, but she couldn’t lie to herself. The truth was she’d had mixed feelings about the weekend ever since Walter had given her the tickets. 

 

Or, rather, ever since he’d said that she should take Tim with her. 

 

There’d been a moment when he’d handed her the tickets that she’d thought he was asking her to go with him, and her heart had soared. Then he’d clarified that she should take Tim and… and she’d felt like a fool. Because of course that’s what he’d meant. Walter had made it abundantly clear that he wanted to keep their relationship professional, and even if sometimes Paige thought that he was struggling with that decision, the point was he was struggling by  _ choice  _ \- he didn’t want them to be together, and Paige didn’t want to be pining after someone who didn’t want to be with her. She wanted someone who wasn’t afraid of his feelings for her. 

 

She wanted to want Tim. The problem was she just… didn’t. 

 

She was furious with herself. Here she was with a great guy, who liked her and wanted to spend time with her, who treated her well and was making an effort to spend time with her son and clearly appreciated his unique mind, who understood her job and respected her abilities, and who, to top it off, was ridiculously cute. And instead of enjoying her time with him, she was replaying Walter’s words over and over, repeating to herself that it didn’t matter because he’d been talking about Toby, he’d  _ said  _ he was talking about Toby and she believed him. She did. 

 

And even if she didn’t, it didn’t matter. Because he’d made his position on the two of them very clear. Multiple times. So she was going to  _ forget about him and enjoy herself.  _

 

Any minute now. 

 

“Are you okay?” 

 

Paige blinked and turned to look at Tim. They were back in the car, a couple of hours away from the diner, and Paige realised with a sinking feeling that she’d been staring out the window at the 395 in silence for the last ten minutes. 

 

She gave him a smile. “I’m fine,” she said brightly. 

 

Tim nodded and stared straight ahead at the road. “You seem… tense,” he said after a moment. 

 

Paige bit back a sigh - she  _ knew  _ he’d noticed. “Really, I'm fine,” she said. Tim glanced at her, and it didn’t take a genius to tell he wasn’t convinced. She swallowed, remembering the excuse she’d given Walter in the garage. “Maybe I'm worried about Ralph.”

 

_ And now she was using her son as an excuse. Great. _

 

“A little,” she amended quickly.. “But I'm fine.”

 

Tim gave her a small smile. “We can turn around,” he offered, making Paige feel even worse. He really was great. 

 

“No, I want to go,” she said, forcing a smile. “I do. I'm fine.”

 

Tim looked at her again, for longer than he really should while driving, and Paige had to look away after a few seconds. There was a moment of silence, and then the sound of the car’s turn signal clicking. Paige looked back round in confusion as Tim pulled onto the hard shoulder and stopped the car. 

 

“What are-”

 

Tim cut the engine and turned to look at Paige. “Anyone who says they're fine three times in twenty seconds…” 

 

Paige swallowed. “I'm okay.”

Tim smiled at that. “That's just another word for fine,” he said.

 

Paige looked away again, and Tim sighed. 

“Look, Paige, you know how much I like you, and I love spending time with you, but this last couple of days I've kind of had the feeling that you… don't really want to go? That you're forcing yourself to be excited about it.” 

 

Paige winced. So he had noticed, and she had clearly hurt his feelings. He didn’t deserve this. She opened her mouth to apologise, but Tim wasn’t done. 

 

“You don't need to tell me why, I don't need you to explain anything but I don't want you to do anything you don't want to, and if you want us to turn around and go home we can,” he said. “No hard feelings.”

 

Paige groaned and buried her face in her hands for a moment before forcing herself to meet Tim’s gaze again. “I'm so sorry,” she said. 

Tim smiled again. It didn’t quite reach his eyes. “You don't have to apologise,” he said. “Really. I just hope you're okay?”

 

Paige nodded. “I am, I just…” Her voice trailed off and she bit her lip. 

 

“I meant it when I said I don't need an explanation,” Tim said softly. 

 

“But you deserve one,” said Paige firmly. “It's just I don’t know how to… I've spent so long not talking about it…” 

 

She wasn’t even sure what she wanted to tell him. How could she possibly explain herself for… for leading him on, for trying to move on with him before she was ready. 

 

“Is it something to do with Walter?” Tim said suddenly. Paige’s eyes widened and the look she gave him must have been comical because he actually chuckled. “I might not be a genius but I've seen the looks. It's not hard to work out.”

 

Paige swallowed. “Looks?”

 

“Whenever we’re talking to each other the rest of the team keep looking at Walter as if they're afraid he's going to break down or something,” said Tim.

 

Paige rolled her eyes. “The team just-”

“And then there's the way you look at each other.”

Paige felt her cheeks heating up, and she determinedly kept her eyes on her hands. “He doesn't-”

 

“He does when he knows you aren't looking.”

 

“Really?” Paige asked before she could stop herself. Tim gave her a wry smile, and Paige covered her face with her hands again. 

 

“Oh god,” she groaned. “Oh god… Tim I'm so sorry.”

 

“It's okay.”

 

“It is  _ not _ ,” said Paige sternly, looking up at him. “You're such a great guy, and I really do like you, I just…” She shook her head and let her head drop back against the seat. “And it's so  _ stupid _ because it's never gonna happen and-”

 

“You don’t know that,” said Tim.

 

“I do,” said Paige. She sighed, shaking her head slightly. This whole conversation was… she needed to stop talking. It was bad enough that she was admitting to Tim that she had feelings for someone else without making him reassure her of her chances with him. But Tim was still smiling, and it was reaching his eyes now, and she’d been avoiding talking about it as much as she could and, well - she  _ needed  _ to talk about it.

 

“He doesn't want to be with me- we've actually talked about it before, last year, and he doesn’t want to disrupt the team,” she said. She swallowed the lump in her throat. “He's not going to change his mind. He's even been dating other women. So I'm just going to have to get over it. And I will.”

 

It was silent for a moment. Paige stayed staring straight ahead, not wanting to see whatever pitying look Tim was sure to be giving her. She knew she sounded like a lovesick teenager, and she  _ hated  _ it, especially hated that she was dumping all of this on poor Tim.

 

“I don't think you should be so sure about him not changing his mind,” Tim said eventually.

 

Paige sighed. “Just because he looks at me sometimes doesn't mean that he’ll-”

 

“That's not why I think he’ll change his mind.”

 

Paige finally turned her head to look at him - he was smiling. No,  _ smirking _ . She frowned. “Why, then?”

 

Tim shrugged. “Well, he's just pulled up behind us,” he said flippantly. 

 

Paige froze for a moment before her head whipped round. Sure enough, a car had pulled up behind them, and her eyes met Walter’s through the rear window. He had a very serious look on his face. 

 

“Oh my god,” Paige said, fumbling to undo her seatbelt. “Something must be wrong!” 

 

_ Ralph. Something was wrong with Ralph _ . Something awful had happened, why else would Walter have come after them? 

 

She threw open the door and jumped out of the car - Walter was already half out of his own. 

 

“Walter!” Paige called out, hurrying over to him.

 

“Has the car broken down?” Walter asked as he shut his door behind him. “Have you called someone?” They stopped facing each other, a foot apart.

 

“What, no, it's-” Paige shook her head. “What are you doing here. Is everything ok? Is it Ralph?”

 

“No, everything is fine,” Walter said. He paused. “Though I can see why you'd reach that conclusion. I'm sorry if I alarmed you.”

 

Paige took a deep breath as relief crashed through her, but she had about a second to enjoy the feeling before her heart sped up. She swallowed. “Then… what  _ are  _ you doing here?” 

 

Walter stared at her for a moment before answering. “I… need to talk to you.” 

 

Paige stared back, her heart beating so fast by this point that she thought it was likely to beat out of her chest. She didn’t want assume, couldn’t afford to get her hopes up again. But the way he was looking at her… she couldn’t help it. 

 

Then, suddenly, Tim was standing next to her. Paige jumped, and she saw Walter do the same. “Hey Walter, are you okay to give Paige a ride from here?” Tim said cheerfully. 

 

Paige felt herself blushing again, and Walter blinked in surprise. “I, yes of course,” he said, glancing back at Paige. “Is something wrong with your car?”

 

“No, it's fine,” said Tim, smiling, still with that cheerful tone of voice. He turned to face Paige, and she could see he was barely holding back his smirk. “I'll get your bags,” he said, sounding a little smug. 

 

Paige narrowed her eyes at him, which only seemed to amuse him. “Thanks,” she said drily. Tim nodded and walked away. 

 

“Why are you pulled over?” Walter asked. 

 

Paige tucked her hair behind her ears. “We, um, had decided to not go to the festival,” she said. 

 

Walter’s brow crinkled and his mouth formed a kind of ‘o’ shape, his classic confused look. Paige loved that look, and she couldn’t help but smile. 

 

Walter cleared his throat. “Does that mean that the two of you, um-”

 

Paige smiled again. “I think Tim and I are better off as friends,” she said. 

 

There was a flash of unmistakable triumph on Walter’s face and that more than anything made Paige hope that he was there to confess his feelings, because she hated to think he would feel that way about her relationships failing otherwise. 

 

Tim reappeared next to Paige before Walter could reply, put her suitcases down on the ground, and placed her purse carefully on top. “There you go,” he said. “I'll see you guys on Monday.” 

 

He was still smiling that smug little smirk, and Paige reached out to touch his arm and pull him back before he could walk away. “Tim- thank you,” she said. 

 

Tim’s smirk turned into a genuine smile, and he leaned down to give her a quick hug; Paige smiled into his shoulder and then up at him when she pulled back, and he nodded. 

 

“I hope you've come to your senses Walter,” he said as he stepped away from her. “See you.”

 

Paige bit her lip and watched Tim as he got back in his car, started it up and pulled back out onto the highway - mostly to have an excuse to not look at Walter for a moment. She needed a second to gather herself. 

 

When she turned back to Walter she found that he was already looking at her, and that he looked… well,  _ nervous  _ was the only way to describe it. 

 

Paige took a deep breath. “So what did you want to talk about?” She asked him. 

 

Walter opened his mouth and then closed it again. He looked past her at the cars shooting by, and then frowned. “What did he mean by come to my senses?” He asked. 

 

Paige knew Walter well enough to tell when he was trying to deflect, and this time she wasn’t going to let him. He’d chased her halfway to Lake Tahoe because he said he wanted to talk. She wasn’t going to let him squirm out of it now that they were there. 

 

“Tell me what you wanted to tell me, and I'll explain,” she said calmly. 

 

Walter visibly swallowed. “I - this probably isn’t the best place for this conversation, perhaps we should-”

 

“Walter.” Paige took a step closer to him, and he swallowed again. 

 

“ I.. I wasn't talking about Toby,” he said slowly. Paige’s breath caught in her throat and she had to clench her hands to stop herself reaching for him.

 

Walter didn't seem to notice her reaction; he kept talking, his eyes never leaving hers, his voice getting faster and faster. “Back in the garage. I was talking about me. And you. I'm sure you knew that already, because I am not a very talented liar and you in particular have always been able to see through my attempts at deception but I needed you to know for sure. Because it was about you. I've spent this past year telling myself that if we were together it would disrupt my work but the truth is not being with you has been worse for my work than I could ever imagine a relationship between us would be. In fact if anything I believe being in a relationship with you would actually improve my work output because while I appreciate that I will lose some time, I have been suffering from such a detrimental lack of concentration that-”

 

Paige was frozen to the spot for most of this speech, holding her breath and half expecting to wake up in Tim’s car. Walter broke eye contact with her as his speech took on a more rambling quality, almost like he was talking to himself, and Paige felt like she was going to burst if she didn't get to touch him. 

 

“Walter…”

 

He didn't register her talking and ploughed on. “-expect a great improvement. As you know I have been attempting to create something of a work/life balance through exploring romantic experiences but you probably don't know that you were the catalyst for that and that I was always attempting to feel something like what I feel for you and it was useless because I've never felt this way for anyone else and I cannot fathom how I ever thought I could recreate it with-”

 

“Walter-”

 

“-else and this clearly indicates that I-”

 

“Walter!” Paige shouted. Walter stopped talking abruptly, blinking in surprise. Paige smiled at him. “You're rambling.”

 

Walter huffed indignantly. “I'm presenting supporting evidence of a logical conclusion,” he said. He looked insulted, and it made Paige grin. 

 

“And what conclusion is that?”

 

“I love you,” said Walter. 

 

Paige’s grin vanished, 

 

Just like that. He said it so simply, like it was so obvious. Of all the things she’d been expecting him to say,  _ I love you  _ was… well, she would  _ never _ have expected it. He’d spent all the time she’d known him denying having feelings at  _ all _ , and now he was standing in front of her, telling her he loved her.  _ Walter O’Brien loved her.  _

 

And she was gaping at him like a dumbstruck idiot. 

 

Walter cleared his throat. “So… that’s what I wanted to tell you,” he said. He paused, and his eyes skittered away from her nervously. “Perhaps we should go. Standing at the side of the highway isn’t really the best place to discuss-”

 

Paige let out the breath she was holding in a rush, stepped forward, used her hands on his shoulders to pull herself up onto her toes, and kissed him. 

 

It took him a second to catch on, but he was soon kissing her back, and she felt that same rush she’d felt when they’d kissed before, the need to press forward, the feeling of never wanting to stop. This time, though, Walter’s hands slid round her waist until his arms were wrapped round her back, pulling her up against him, and he didn’t pull back after a few seconds - Paige lost herself in this kiss, oblivious to everything except Walter. 

 

Eventually, of course, the need to breathe forced them to break the kiss, and Paige pulled back enough to see Walter properly as he blinked his eyes open and looked at her. 

 

“I love you too,” she said. 

 

Walter smiled - a surprised, delighted smile - and Paige grinned in response before pulling him down for another kiss. This time they were interrupted by a driver blowing their horn at them as they sped by, and Paige laughed, her face pressed into Walter’s shoulder. 

 

“We should go,” he said. 

 

“We should,” she agreed. She looked up at him, still wrapped in his arms - despite his words he didn’t seem like he planned to let her go anytime soon. “Where are we going?” 

 

Walter cocked his head to the side. “Where do you want to go?” 

 

Paige bit her lip. “We could go to Lake Tahoe,” she said. 

 

Walter’s eyebrows shot up. “I thought you didn’t want to go to the festival?” He said. “That’s why you pulled over.”

 

Paige grinned. “I didn’t want to go with Tim,” she said. “But I would love to go with you.” 

 

Walter was smiling again, but started to frown as he thought it over. “I… I don’t have anything with me,” he said. “No clothes, no toiletries, no-”

 

“It’s another two hundred miles to Lake Tahoe, I’m guessing we can find a mall,” said Paige. She chuckled as Walter’s frown deepened, presumably at the thought of having to brave a mall, and stepped back a little, forcing him to loosen his arms around her. “It’s okay - let’s just go back to LA and-”

 

“No, we should go,” said Walter, nodding. “Let’s go to the festival.” 

 

Paige grinned. “Really?”

 

“Really,” said Walter. “Going with you had been my first choice, I had just been unable to admit it. Besides, the idea of having you to myself for two days is… appealing.” 

 

Paige darted forward to kiss him again, really intending just a quick peck this time, but his arms tightened around her again and, well, there was just something about the feeling of Walter’s arms holding her against him that she couldn’t resist. 

 

“Okay,” she said as they eventually broke apart again. “Let’s get out of here. For real.” 

 

Walter nodded, and finally let go of her - Paige missed his warmth immediately, but busied herself with picking up her purse and one of her suitcases; Walter picked up the other one. 

 

“I probably could have chosen a more romantic setting than the side of the 395,” he said ruefully as they put the bags in the trunk of his car. 

 

Paige shook her head. “Lake Tahoe will be plenty romantic,” she said. “This was perfect.” 

 

~*~

 

Tim didn’t have to drive too far south before he could turn around, which was good because now that the adrenaline was wearing off he was starting to feel tired. And it was going to be a long, lonely drive home. 

 

He wasn’t sure what he was feeling. Disappointed, definitely, but not hurt. He didn’t think so, anyway. Paige wasn’t malicious, and she’d clearly felt terrible about the whole situation, and it was hard to be mad at her when she was so clearly mad at herself. He supposed he could be mad at Walter but honestly he didn’t see the point. He hadn’t done anything so terrible, had shown up  _ after _ their… break up, though Tim could barely even call it that. 

 

It was only about ten minutes after leaving them that Tim was driving back in the other direction, and Walter’s car was still there, though there was no sign of him or Paige - which meant they had to be inside the car. Sure enough, when he got level with the car, Tim could see that they sitting inside, Walter behind the wheel and Paige next to him. 

 

They were kissing. 

 

Tim rolled his eyes at himself and reached over to make a call on his phone. The sound of ringing filled the car, followed by a voice. 

 

“ _ Gallo _ .”

 

“Hey Cabe,” said Tim. 

 

“ _ Hey kid - everything okay?”  _

 

“Fine, fine. Except you know that thing you warned me about? It just happened.” 

 

There was a pause. 

 

“ _ You’re kidding _ .” 

 

“Nope. I’m on my way back to LA, ETA two hours - don’t suppose you’d be around to stop me from drinking alone?”

 

Cabe chuckled. “ _ O’Malleys, two hours.” _

 

“See you there.”

  
THE END  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



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